Apparatus for securing a plurality of cards in a holder

ABSTRACT

Apparatus for securing a plurality of cards into a holder includes a sheet of metal formed into an accordian-like shape with alternate peaks and troughs. Rod-like projections on opposite ends of the sheet are used in securing the same to indexing grooves in the card holding frame. Apparatus for loading the cards in the holder includes a crimping device which receives the frame and accordian-like sheet in locking engagement. The crimping device has jaws which fit between adjacent troughs in the metal sheet and which are moved to cause sections at the peaks of the sheet to break away, with the accordian-like folds being crimped to the card thereby forming separate hinges.

United States Patent [1 1 Stephens [451 NW. 2c, 1973 APPARATUS FOR SECURING A PLURALITY OF CARDS IN A HOLDER Richard J. Stephens, 515 James St., Geneva, 111. 60134 Filed: Mar. 17, 1972 Appl. No.: 235,575

Inventor:

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3/1968 Harper 29/208 D 10/1972 Roth 29/200 D 12/1972 Gillespie 29/24358 X Primary Examiner-Thomas H. Eager AttorneyFoorman L. Mueller et al.

57 ABSTRACT Apparatus for securing a plurality of cards into a holder includes a sheet of metal formed into an accordian-like shape with alternate peaks and troughs. Rod-like projections on opposite ends of the sheet are used in securing the same to indexing grooves in the card holding frame. Apparatus for loading the cards in the holder includes a crimping device which receives the frame and accordian-like sheet in locking engagement. The crimping device has jaws which fit between adjacent troughs in the metal sheet and which are moved to cause sections at the peaks of the sheet to break away, with the accordian-like folds being crimped to the card thereby forming separate hinges.

7 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures APPARATUS FOR SECURING A PLURALITY OF CARDS IN A HOLDER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Diaplay racks for pages, cards, panels and sheets of material are well-known. In one particular type of display rack display panels are individually secured by clamps which have hinge portions inserted into slots in a mounting board. The hinge portions are then locked into position with clamp bars which slidably fit into brackets secured to the mounting board.

Another device for attaching sheets of paper to a backing utilizes a strip material having aspring jaw which is flexibly hinged to the backing. In loading the paper into the device each jaw must be opened before a page can be inserted. Thus, for both the display rack and the device for holding sheets of material the time involved in individually loading the sheets into the hinges presents a costly production problem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved card holder.

It is another object of this invention to provide apparatus for quickly and economically loading a plurality of cards simultaneously into the holder.

Throughout this invention where the word card is used it should be understood that this is meant to include pages, sheets and similar articles of the same class.

In one embodiment of this invention apparatus for securing a plurality of cards into a holder includes a plastic frame having a rectangular opening with indexing grooves molded into opposite ends of the frame. A sheet of metal is formed into accordian-like folds having alternate peaks and troughs. Each trough has a rod like projection on opposite ends thereof which engage respective indexing grooves of the frame to lock the metal sheet to the frame. Subsequently, the frame and accordian-like sheet of metal are inserted into a loading fixture and locked therein by a sliding clamp. A crimping device in the loading fixture ls actuated. Jaws of the crimping device engage the accordian-like sections of the metal sheets causing sections at the peaks thereof to break away separating the troughs from one another. Continued crimping action closes the metal sides of the trough on the individual cards simultaneously securing them in position in the frame. A locking projection and a detent oppositely disposed on each side of the trough may provide an additional locking force on the card with the sides being crimped together.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 shows an exploded perspective view partially broken away of the card holder in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows a view in perspective of a portion of the card holder of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of a portion of the loading fixture of the present invention;

FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of a portion of the loading fixture of the present invention with the card holder locked therein;

FIG. 5 shows an elevation view in partial crosssection of the loading fixture in accordance with this invention; and

FIGS. 6-60 show elevation views in cross-section taken along the lines 66 of FIG. 5 illustrating the steps in loading the cards in the holder in accordance with this invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring to FIG. I of the drawing, there is shown a holder 10 for a plurality of cards, which includes a rectangular frame lll made of plastic for disposal after a single use. The frame 11 has a rectangular opening 113 formed by the ends 15 and 17 and the sides 12 and 14. The card holder is not limited to but can be used, for instance, in a data registering device used as a voting machine, as is known in the art.

A sheet 22 is stamped from steel and formed into accordian-like folds having peaks such as 24', 25 and 26 (FIG. 2) alternating the troughs such as 27 and 28 which are formed in a spaced relation with one another. The peaks are cut away substantially over the entire length of the fold except at the distal ends thereof where they are joined by breakaway portions 30 and 311, for instance, associated with the peaks 25 and 26. These break-away sections hold the troughs of sheet 22 together for fitting into the frame 11 and facilitate the clamping of the cards therein as will be explained.

The accordian-like plate 22 is mounted to the holder 10 by snapping rod-like projections such as 33 and 34, which extend, for instance, from trough 27 into indexing slots or grooves such as 36 and 37, which are integrally molded in the opposite ends 17 and I5, respectively of the holder II). Each of the troughs have these rod-like projections of arcuate cross-section extending therefrom as shown in FIG. 1. Each of the indexing grooves has angled walls such as 40 and 42 of slot 44 which define a restricted passageway opening into an arcuate or circular seat such as 46 of the slot 37. When the projections are inserted into the passageway of the groove the walls thereof crimp the rods and they then snap back to their original shape when they reach the seat of the groove to firmly lock the sheet 22 within the holder. The arcuate cross-section of the rods matingly engage the circular seat of the groove so the rods can freely rotate therein.

Once the accordian-like sheet 22 has been positioned in the plastic card holder 10 it is ready to be set into the loading fixture. Fixture 50 is illustrated in FIGS. 3-60. It includes a rectangular frame 52 joined at each end by end pieces 54 and 56 on which clamps 58 and 60 are slidably mounted. As best shown in FIG. 3 positioned within the rectangular frame of the fixture are a plurality of longitudinally extending jaws shown generally at 62. Connected to each of the jaws is a rack 64 (FIG. 5) which can be hydraulically operated by the cylinder 66, for instance, to move the jaws up and down simultaneously within the frame 52. As shown in FIG. 4, the card holder 10 with the sheet 22 in position is inverted from the position shown in FIG. I and fit into the loading fixture 50 by setting it within the rectangular frame. In the fixture, the jaws such as (FIG. 6) are in mating alignment with the peaks such as 25 of the accordian-like folds of the plate 22. subsequently the clamps 5% and 60 are slid over the ends 17 and 15 of the card holder 10 to lock the same in position.

As shown in FIG. extending from the frame of the loading fixture 50 are vertical risers 7 1 made of a heavy gauge wire, for instance. There are a plurality of these risers (which cannot be seen behind 74 because they lie in the same plane thereof) which are positioned adjacent to one another in alignment with each of the troughs in the metal sheet 22 into which cards are to be loaded. Pairs of these risers provide guide slots for the cards to be passed through when setting them into the troughs and support them in the vertical plane until the cards can be secured into the card holder 10, such as card 76 is shown being supported in the loading fixture 50 of FIG. 5 by riser 74.

Operation of the loading fixture can be best understood by considering FIGS. 6-60. With the card holder 10 in position in the fixture 50, the hydraulic cylinder 66 is actuated to move the jaws upwardly into the space 13 (FIG. I) defined by the rectangular frame of the card holder 10. In FIG. 6a, the jaw 70 is shown parting the breakaway section 30 joining the troughs and cooperating with the jaw 72 adjacent thereto to bend the sides 80 and 82 defining the trough 27 upwardly as shown in FIG. 6b. The jaws continue to move vertically as shown in 6b until the sides of each trough are vertical. At that time the plunger 84 of the fixture 50 (FIG. 6c) continues to move upwardly splitting each of the jaws through a carnming action into two portions or sections e.g., 70a and 70b, which act to securely crimp the sides of each of the troughs tightly against the card to lock it in the card holder 10.

Although this action was described in connection with adjacent sets of jaws and one card 76, it should be clear that the other jaws shown in FIG 6 are moving to likewise crimp the sides of the respective troughs against the cards fitted therein to simultaneously clamp an entire set of cards into the holder 10. Each of the troughs of the sheet 22 therefore when they are broken away from the adjacent trough forms a hinge for a card, which hinge is rotatably mounted within the indexed grooves, e.g., 36 of the card holder 10 by the rod-like projections extending from the trough.

Adjacent sides of the trough such as 80 and 82 (FIG. 2) may have a projection such as 90 on wall 80 of the trough and an oppositely disposd indentation (not shown) in wall 82 which will receive the projection 90. Of course, the opposite end of the walls of the trough 27 would also have a similar projection and indentation. Therefore, when the walls of the trough are crimped the projection would enter the indentation on the opposite wall applying additionallocking pressure on the card to thereby further secure the same in the trough.

What has been described, therefore, is an unique card holder and apparatus for quickly and economically loading a plurality of cards into the holder.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for securing a plurality of cards in a holder, including in combination, a frame, card receiving means having locking means for securing a plurality of cards therein in a spaced relation to one another,

means for mounting said card receiver means in said frame, a loading fixture receiving said frame, said fixture including selectively operable means for operating said locking means of said card receiving means to secure said cards in said frame of the holder.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said card receiving means includes a metal sheet formed with accordian-like folds having peaks and troughs therein, and said selectively operable means of said loading fixture includes a plurality of jaws shaped to fit into the peaks of said sheet.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said locking means includes the sides of said troughs and breakaway sections joining said peaks together, said cards being positioned in said troughs, said jaws being selectively operated to part the breakaway sections and crimp the walls of said troughs about the cards thereby securing the same in said holder.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein one side of said trough includes a projection at each end thereof and the other side thereof includes an oppositely disposed indentation also at each end, with said fixture crimping the side walls of said troughs together, said projection enters said indentation thereby catching said card therebetween to further lock the same in said trough.

5. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said fixture includes a rack connected to said jaws, and means for moving said rack whereby said jaws part the breakaway sections, said jaws further having first and second partable portions, and said fixture includes plunger means operable to cam said jaws into first and second portions subsequent to the parting of said breakaway sections, whereby adjacent portions of said jaws fit into adjoining peaks of said sheet and engage opposite walls of said trough positioned therebetween to crimp the same together locking said card in the holder.

6. The apparatus of claim I wherein said means for mounting said card receiving means in said frame includes indexing grooves on opposite ends of said frame, and projection means on said card receiving means which fit into said indexing grooves to fix said card receiving means in position.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said indexing grooves are integrally molded in said frame and have angled side walls defining a restricted passage which card receiving means in said frame. 

1. Apparatus for securing a plurality of cards in a holder, including in combination, a frame, card receiving means having locking means for securing a plurality of cards therein in a spaced relation to one another, means for mounting said card receiver means in said frame, a loading fixture receiving said frame, said fixture including selectively operable means for operating said locking means of said card receiving means to secure said cards in said frame of the holder.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said card receiving means includes a metal sheet formed with accordian-like folds having peaks and troughs therein, and said selectively operable means of said loading fixture includes a plurality of jaws shaped to fit into the peaks of said sheet.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said locking means includes the sides of said troughs and breakaway sections joining said peaks together, said cards being positioned in said troughs, said jaws being selectively operated to part the breakaway sections and crimp the walls of said troughs about the cards thereby securing the same in said holder.
 4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein one side of said trough includes a projection at each end thereof and the other side thereof includes an oppositely disposed indentation also at each end, with said fixture crimping the side walls of said troughs together, said projection enters said indentation thereby catching said card therebetween to further lock the same in said trough.
 5. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said fixture includes a rack connected tO said jaws, and means for moving said rack whereby said jaws part the breakaway sections, said jaws further having first and second partable portions, and said fixture includes plunger means operable to cam said jaws into first and second portions subsequent to the parting of said breakaway sections, whereby adjacent portions of said jaws fit into adjoining peaks of said sheet and engage opposite walls of said trough positioned therebetween to crimp the same together locking said card in the holder.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said means for mounting said card receiving means in said frame includes indexing grooves on opposite ends of said frame, and projection means on said card receiving means which fit into said indexing grooves to fix said card receiving means in position.
 7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said indexing grooves are integrally molded in said frame and have angled side walls defining a restricted passage which opens into a circular seat portion, and said projection means are rod-like projections having an arcuate cross-section, said rods being resiliently compressed by said restricted portion of said indexing grooves with said card receiving means being inserted through said passageway, and snapping back to said arcuate cross-section with the same positioned in said circular seat portion thereby pivotally mounting said cards in said card receiving means in said frame. 